But I use Lamotte and salifert and both read 0.
"Chris288" who changed his name to "Loismustdie"
had "problems" with his colors and his test kits read "0" He ran a ton of phosban and his colors started to pop. Using a Hanna meter he was able to see his real phosphate level and it wasn't 0. It was actually kind of high.
Yep... I'm not only a hair club member... I'm the president. My PO4 was so high, the Hanna couldn't read it. Zero on a Salifert test kit is too high in reality. Funny how everyone who isn't happy with their tank always has "perfect" water quality. I thought the same thing when my tank was full of brown acros. Salifert said I was good. Turns out, I wasn't. Salifert is fine for CA, MG and ALK. Salifert PO4 and NO3 kits are just a little better than not testing at all. If you do SPS, you should get better kits for nutrients. There is a reason why SPS are considered advanced. "I can look at my corals and tell if there is something wrong" or, "I have a Deltec and the guy at the LFS says my water quality is fine" just won't do.
Anyone who has a retort to my above statement, ask me and I will tell you how many members of this site have sent water to me for it to be tested. You'll be surprised how many have and how bad their water actually is, even though they say it's "perfect". I've said this before... while Dean was here, we talked about how EVERYONE has "undetectable" nitrate levels. Well, if you don't test for it, then it theoretically is undetectable.
Now, if your water does test fine, what are you using as a gauge to compare your colors with? Most web-sites are so photo-chopped that you couldn't get those colors unless you printed up those photos and taped them to your glass. What lighting is being used? My colors got better with better bulbs.
Sometimes, I sound like I'm bashing, but I'm really not. Think of it like someone with high nitrate. Water changes aren't the best solution to fix it. You have to find the root of the problem, then water changes will help. Find out exactly why your colors aren't popping and then find a solution from there. I'm not telling you not to experiment. Hell, I'm in the process of an experiment with about 4 large worth of equipment. Just make sure everything else is good before you add something you may not need.